Fate of 300-odd depositors with deposits over Rs 5 L hangs in balance
MUCB headquarters at Aquem-Margao.
MARGAO
July 27, 2021-- The inevitable happened to the Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank (MUCB) when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cancelled the banking license of the Margao-based Cooperative Bank.
Reason: The RBI concluded that MUCB in its present financial position would be unable to pay its depositors in full; and public interest would be adversely affected if the bank is allowed to carry on its banking business any further.
The RBI action was followed by the government appointing retired Civil Service Officer S V Naik as the liquidator to oversee the liquidation of the bank in order to settle the claims of the depositors amounting to over Rs 180 crore.
Exactly three years down the line, a host of questions remains unanswered. One, have the claims of all the depositors of the once-premiere Urban Cooperative Bank settled in the liquidation proceedings? How many of the depositors still awaiting settlement of their claims? Has the liquidator managed to recover the crores of outstanding dues from the defaulters till date? And, whether the liquidator has disposed of the Bank’s assets, running into the crores of rupees, to clear the beleaguered depositors doing rounds of the MUCB head office, Aquem.
Inquiries by The Goan has revealed that while the liquidator has almost settled the claims of depositors with deposits up to a ceiling of Rs five lakh, those depositors having deposits beyond the ceiling have been left high and dry till date.
If liquidator-appointed designated officer, Kishore Amonkar is to be believed, over 10,000 depositors, who had deposits with the bank up to Rs five lakh, have been settled till date through the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC). Amonkar pointed out that claims of small and marginal depositors amounting to Rs 132 crore has been settled by the liquidator till date.
Banks assets and
defaulters dues
How about the 300-odd beleaguered depositors, whose deposits with the MUCB exceeding Rs five lakh? How will the liquidator arrange funds to the tune of approximately Rs 42 crore to settle the claims of these 300-odd depositors?
Answers to these questions are not forthcoming from the officials appointed by the liquidator, with officials only saying the balance claims will be settled depending on the availability of funds after disposing off the bank’s assets and recovery of outstanding dues from defaulters.
In this context, the liquidator had put up for sale bank’s assets, including the premises at Margao, Benaulim and Panaji. The proposal to dispose of the premises at Benaulim and Panaji had no takers, while the sale of the Margao branch premises may fetch money close to Rs five crore.
Amonkar, however, pointed out that sale deed with the bidder has not materialized till date on account of bureaucratic red tape, as a result of which the premises could not be disposed off till date.
Rs 17 cr unclaimed
deposits with bank
If sources are to be believed, around Rs 17 crore unclaimed deposits are lying with the bank till date. Sources said these deposits amounting to Rs 17 crore have not been claimed yet by the bank depositors. At the time of liquidation, the bank had on its register around 56,635 depositors. However, not all these depositors had laid claim on their deposits since the time the liquidator had called upon all the depositors to claim their deposits. If officials are to be believed, around 10,000-odd depositors have so far claimed their deposits, with overwhelming number of depositors not responding to liquidator’s request to claim their money.
Amonkar pointed out that the office of the liquidator will move the government for guidance how to go about with these unclaimed deposits, whether these unclaimed deposits can be utilized to settle a part of the claims made by the remaining 300 depositors.
Assets and outstanding
dues over Rs 100 crore
The Liquidator-appointed Designated Officer Kishore Amonkar pointed out that sale of bank’s assets and recovery of outstanding dues could fetch a whopping Rs 100 crore, which could be used to settle the claims of all depositors. But, there’s a big catch – can the liquidator recover the outstanding dues and whether the bank can get the value for the assets when there are hardly any takers for the assets, including the buildings at Benaulim and Panaji.
Sources said the outstanding dues and the value of the bank’s assets will have no meaning if the liquidator is not able to recover the dues and the bank does not get the value for the assets.
